Not quite... Kelly Pavlik: "And it's not that he's that good. For crying out loud he lost to Jermain Taylor, twice. I beat Jermain Taylor twice, I beat him by decision and I knocked him out. It has nothing to do with his athleticism or his craftiness. Jermain Taylor hit him at will. Calzaghe hit him at will. It's just that I didn't have anything. " Straight from the horses mouth.
I was a fan of Pavlik's before the fight. All these excuses are getting out of hand now. Bhop is about to turn 44 years old. Pavlik shouldn't have an excuse even if he lost his leg before the fight. Hopkins is a legend
If Pavlik was sick, he should have postponed the fight just like the Euro fighters do a lot of times. Hopkins deserves all the credit but I noticed that Pavlik looked tired when they were wrapping his hands before the fight, they will replay it this Saturday.
He didn't look tired at all to me, he looked fresh and ready to go in the locker as they filmed him there numerous times before his entrance. Even his entrance he looked ready to go and can't wait for it to start.
Didn't Hatton beat Urango with a chest infection? My view is if your so ill you can not compete at your best then just postpone the fight. No point in losing then regretting it. AA did the same recently its no big deal.
yeah no **** right? i mean bronchotits? who the **** fights with that? And if he did I give him NO respect. He is a ****ing dumbass for fighting with a severe handicap. Funny how his dad says it instead of kelly too. Plausible deniability.
Hopkins can't make 160 anymore. At least I really doubt it. Calzaghe and Jones are fighting for the Ring 175 lb. title, so I don't see what your complaint is here about these guys "not fighting for a championship". HBO turned down a couple of fights for Pavlik at 160. Then they kept talking about how it was such a poor move for Pavlik's team to fight at 170 against Hopkins. I think the decision was partially forced by HBO, and also to try to get Pavlik used to fighting at a higher weight. He's a big middleweight, and if Pavlik had won, he'd most likely have taken part in a big money fight against the Jones/Calzaghe winner. That'd be at light-heavyweight, so they wanted to get Pavlik more accustomed to fighting at a higher weight. It didn't work.
Exactly! Kelly also had more than a few fights North of 160, therefore even if it was a risky move, they believed that they can be just as strong at 170 as at 160. Lot of knockouts came 160+, so it's not that he's too small for a LHW, but the others are too big. At 160 he enjoys the size and physical advantages, vs. a LHW, like Hopkins' body in the fight, there's no advantage. But I don't really think Kelly can't adjust at least to 168... it's still the style, not the size and weight that caused problems. How much did he weighed fight night in the Miranda and Taylor fights? I don't remember, but it can't be not so much less than in the Hopkins fight.
Honestly if HBO wanted him to look good at a higher weight, they could've polished off Tito for a fight and had the two fight there. The problem with Pavlik is (and I've said this before the Hopkins fight), his power doesn't carry up with him at higher weights. Lack of power + decline in speed=tough **** Pavs. His success will be at MW, where he'll have a very long and comfortable career unless Abraham beats him or he runs into Danny Jacobs in a few years.